And now on with June 2008's BlogBlast For Peace Day: It was amazing!
This post will stay up through Sunday so that bloggers have time to visit, as many are still contributing globes and posts. Thank you for blogging for peace today. Please sign the Mr. Linky so that I can keep up with your peace posts and document the day. I hope you will take time to read and visit everyone. The globes are beautiful and the posts inspiring. Brava to the blogosphere. Mimi

A Changing Queen In An Upside Down World For the past thirty days I've been fulfilling a promise, one I made to myself and a commitment to my readers. I wanted to bring to this project a bit more - no, a lot more - personal enlightenment on a very painful subject. War. Conflict. What is happening on the globe right now? Who is fighting whom? What are they fighting about? Why are they STILL fighting? It was not easy to condense the facts into nutshell posts hitting the highlights of very complicated sociological and political scenarios, but I wanted to bring a human face and an honest reaction to the page. I wanted to add substance and reality to the Peace Globe movement in a way that affects us personally - wherever we may live.It was not easy to look at or digest. For me. Or for you.

So I wrote Thirty Days Thirty Reasons To Fly A Peace Globe - day one, day two, day three and so on. I had no idea what I was in for. At the beginning the idea was met with enthusiasm and encouragement. Your comments were insightful and steady. As time passed, the readers had little left to say and comments withered away. You weren't used to Her Highness the Whimsy Queen waxing off into statistically frightful fonts. What did I, Mimi Pencil Skirt, know about jungles and deserts and wars after all? There are no bombs falling in Bloggingham. Landmines do not plague my marketplace. Maybe I should stop all this violence nonsense and stick to intelligent cyber-fluff. Then I began to get emails like this one, "Mimi, I don't want you to think I'm not reading. I am but I have no idea what to say. It is too overwhelming."

So that's it. A few times I started to soft pedal the process out of respect for my audience. I couldn't fault anyone for not following my sorrowful journey. I, myself, admittedly, started to slip into sadness , survival guilt even, as the violent stories turned over and over in my mind day after day and I realized that so many human beings just a plane hop away from me endure lives of horror just outside their doorsteps. Everyday.

Is this too much for people to read, I asked?

Should I stop? But each time I started to do that, someone else would write and essentially say "I want more. I am learning. I never knew this before. It is hard but I want to look. Keep going."I couldn't stop. The promise you know......

I learned a lot. A lot about me.
And you.
And them. It was heartbreaking. And then one day - just when I thought I should quit for my own sanity - I got a letter from Margo Moon at The Starr Ann Chronicles. She wrote, "Had to let you know that today, I received my third Peace Post preview from a fellow blogger. Just wanted you to be aware that bloggers take their Peace posts so seriously, that drafts get passed back and forth for inspection, then they get tweaked, and sent around again." She called the movement "organic."

Another blogger added soon after, "I am so proud to be in this movement." I never thought I had a voice. Until now."
How could I not be humbled by this? Someone, somewhere, was reading. And they were not turning away.
Whoever heard of serenity in the midst of war? Whoever heard of beauty and bravery on a blog? Whoever heard of reaching across the table, across the continent, and extending a hand of peace to people I don't even know? Citizens - imagine - on a web page whose country might be at war with mine, whose politics seem like a cry for war and where religion is used as violence and hate? Can I cross the blog border and forget all that and just remember that voices of peace can't war?

Unheard of. Whoever heard of such a thing?

truth is - Sometimes love whispers and sometimes it screams

but it is always heard.

So my privileged Milanis marched through the mud again. I changed.

Not my boots.

But my heart

I learned a lot.

A lot about me

A lot about you

And a lot about her

And him

I found this photo of a marine in the public domain national archives. It was taken by an unknown photographer in Da Nang, Vietnam. The year was 1965.
As much as I deeply respect those who served our country then and those who serve now to keep me free, my prayer is that not one more fresh-faced boy or girl has to die for that freedom.

Not here. Not anywhere.

Not your child. Or mine.
Shouldn't he be getting dressed for the prom or something? He looks like my own son. All I know for sure is that he is somebody's son.And he should not be standing in a field with a gun strapped over his tender shoulder.

My war posts are not just encyclopedia fantasies. They are real. And on the page they screamed DON'T LOOK.

I ask that you

LOOK

I don't have all the answers. But I do know this:Through all the war zones my pencil skirt waded through this month, one message rang perfectly clear.

We all just want to live happy and safe with the people we love.

It really isn't more complicated than that.

How, Mimi Pencil Skirt - as one reader recently asked - can you use the word revolution in the same sentence as peace? "Because," I said with a mouth full of unexpected resolve ..."because I now know the meaning of revolution."

I am turning. Turning. Changing. As I learn to love people who might look like an adversary at first glance, but whose brown eyes match mine a half a world away and seem hauntingly familiar.

I am turning. Changing. As I read.

And walk through jungles
with starving children
with nothing to hide behind
but my words

Now I have yours, too.

I thank you for blogging across the globe for the cause of peace in our world

and for whispering, screaming, railing against the suffering we see....

I thank you for looking.

I am deeply moved to be in the presence of such company of caring

and incredible human beings

I am honored to be among the peace-keepers

Tonight, I have been attacked by the presence of peace -

and a thing called hope In the midst of a warring world I stumble through
with you

believing that words are powerful

believing that this matters.

I don't know why my grandfather's loving eyes gave me gifts of handmade earth-shaped marbles in a bowl that grace my piano top today, nor why he planned for me, all those years ago, to write about his prayers. I don't know why.
But I do know how.

And so do you.
Let the revolution begin.

Starting a new Mr. Linky for those who still need to sign!Please visit the peace bloggers who signed the Mr. Linky on BlogBlast day.

They are listed below! If you'd like to link them on your blog, just copy this code.

I just want to thank you for all the work you do for Peace. I feel so clumsy about it, but I do try and I think I may get better at it with your leadership. My post is up and I will send you my Peace Globe shortly.

This is how I've pictured you, Mimi. Deep in the trenches. Voluntarily putting yourself through a process that is sure to leave you forever changed. You're a brave woman, a fine writer, and a noble human being.

It is overwhelming. And complicated. And just as simple as you said. Why can't we all just exist & let others exist? I can't fathom it, but I can hope that all of our globes have some impact...somewhere.

You may never no how far your peace work travels or how great an impact you have. But it can only grow in time. Obviously, your message is thriving. It's proliferating, Mimi. So, Let Peace Reign!Thanks to you and your work, that day feels much sooner than later.

Hi Mimi- I am sooo honored to be a part of the Blogblast For Peace! Peace on Earth is one of my biggest prayers- ever since I can remember.. I have sooo much admiration and respect for you for coming up with this idea and making it a reality... For including us in your vision and enabling us to promote peace in the world and to get this message out through our blogs... It's a big accomplishment... I haven't read all of your 30 days.. but that will surely be a project for me!! You put soooo much work into your posts and your blog and God bless you for these efforts that come from your heart and will a full heart of love for mankind... This is "our" way of uniting ourselves (through cyberspace) and joining "hands" for Peace on Earth.... AMEN!!!!!!!---Leesa in France

Making peace with ones past can be painful. Peace begins in the home and as such I speak out agaist child violence under the guise of parental corporal punishment. It is the seed of violence. Let their be peace on earth and let it being with me!

Tish - If anybody in the universe has an excuse for making a late peace globe post it's you...aren't you a tad busy about now? Your globe was one of the first I received. It's gorgeous!Thank you for blogging for peace today.

Mims, my friend, as always you live up to the expectation you created for yourself... and excel that of others. Peace shall come, not in one fell swoop, but with the gradual change of perception. Each one of us holds just a little bit of that change. Each one passes on a little to the next generation. One day our dream might come true. Enough of us certainly want it!

My site is in the process of being updated and remolded at the same time. It is not functioning well at this time. When I get it up and running would it be alright if I do the Blast for peace then? Let me know, OK?

Annelisa! -My friend from across the pond...yes, folks, the same Annelisa whose beautiful sunset photograph always graces the page on Dona Nobis Pacem day....I'm so thrilled you stopped in today. I miss you and your blog. We'll catch up soon!

I forgot to leave a comment for you - who created this great event. This is an exquisite article. The photos are beautiful and devastating both. I will take time over the next few days to go back and read your month of posting. Words do matter. Intention and energy matter. You have created something quite wonderful and hopefully it will continue to grow until it isn't needed anymore because it has accomplished it's mission. Peace.

I hope you're feeling better Mimi. I'm almost afraid to leave a post as you've been so busy. This has been absolutely wonderful honey. I spent all day yesterday floating through a sea of peace globes. Thank you for doing this honey. Have a great evening. Big hug and lots of love. :)

Sandee - I've seen you EVERYWHERE leaving comments. I know folks appreciate it. I am slowing making my way through - trying to savor them. They're all lovely and meaningful to me. Hugs and thanks. You are NOT bothering me. That's just silly.I'm glad you are enjoying the BlogBlast.

Shinade - Sick of them? Surely you meant something else. Of course not. I am overwhelmed - as we all should be who care about this project - in a very good way. But sick of them? Never.And I'm feeling MUCH better.Thanks for asking!

Yes, we shall catch up again soon. My mum's still (!) precarious and surprising all the medical professionals by still being here...but she is... and I'm soaking up every minute I have left with her. In a way, that gives a peace in itself... a certain feeling of knowing that this was the way it was meant to be. But, now's not the time to catch up, so, until then, big hugs, pencilskirt extraordinaire! XX

Notice: Please check your browser to make sure the address of this page is mimiwrites.blogspot.com. If you landed on any other url it is a stolen blog. Please notify me immediately if you do not see mimiwrites.blogspot.com in your browser. mimiwrites2005 at yahoo.comThank you - Mimi Lenox